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As your child goes through school, there will be times where they sit over their workbooks or homework at the dinner table or in their room looking stumped. During this, you want to give them a hand and help them as much as possible. However, you might be reluctant to help too much as you don’t want to end up doing the work for them.

Because kids won’t learn anything that way. They need to do the work themselves if they want to understand the assignments properly and be able to complete similar exercises and essays in the classroom, where you will be absent.

Helping your kids with their school work, but not completing it for them, will help with their critical thinking skills as well as independence. It will set them up for further problem-solving experiences later in life, and allow them to approach anything with the confidence that they can do it. Showing them which way to go, but not leading the way, will help enormously as they navigate the challenging plain of education in their early years and teens.

ROUTINE

Establishing a routine for your child will help them become more comfortable with what they need to do and save them from wasting most of their time on video games or watching TV. While it is still important for them to blow off steam with friends and hobbies, it should not take precedence over their school work in their early years.

Getting used to a routine will include them studying for an hour or two after school, which will give them plenty of time to relax later on. Furthermore, this routine will soon become ingrained in their everyday activities, and so at some point, they will feel like they want and need to do it before worrying about anything else.

However, it is vital that this does not become too regimented. You want your child to have an excellent work ethic, but you also want them to have a social life. Encouraging the routine to include both work and play will help foster a healthy social life as well as ensuring the work gets completed, too.

RESOURCES

Back in the day, it used to be that if you needed information on for a history project that you had to run down to the library and pour over textbook after textbook for hours until you found what you needed. But no more.

The ever-growing digital archives online have streamlined that process so that now your child does not even have to leave their room. Everything is available to them at the click of a mouse or swipe of a screen. However, for those unfamiliar with Googling anything other than funny videos may need guidance in directing them to the resource of their choice, so explaining the basics of an educational Google search will come in handy.

Furthermore, using fraction calculators to better explain and visually demonstrate the formula for them when it comes to studying math equations. Math can be a stressful subject if you are not a natural, but using the plethora of option at your and your child’s fingertips will ease this stress and put them on the path to mathematical success.

REVISE

Revision is, to many kids, a horribly dull activity. They feel that all they are doing is reading and rereading information that they already know, and this can get frustrating. It is all too easy to read something once or twice and then be convinced that you know it because you have just read it. Because of this, revision can sometimes feel like a lot of time wasted on learning nothing.

However, if they ever want to succeed and continue to build on existing knowledge, then revision is essential for entering any exams with a head full of necessary information. This will allow them to write and write and write for however long they need without grasping at straws for points and conclusions.

Sitting down to revise and actually do it, instead of staring at a screen or playing on their phones can pay huge dividends, but once they think they know what they need, they will move on to something else. To solve this issue, practising with your child by testing them on recent topics every day by asking them questions will help them retain the information better and save their mind from going blank when they find themselves sat down in the exam.

REFOCUS

There are so many distractions around the house that it can be all too easy to absently browse their social media or play games on their phone, tablet, or console. This is not just something that affects kids, but adults too. We have all had those times where we are trying to concentrate, but everything else looks so much more appealing at that moment in time.

Finding solutions to maintaining their focus will help remove such distractions. If your child often does their work in their bedroom, surrounded by books and games of all sorts, they will be tempted to avoid their work and instead play.

Consider encouraging (but not forcing) them to find an area of the house, or even the library or somewhere quiet and local, where they can complete their work in peace. They will soon find out that what used to be a three-hour-plus study session soon reduces to much, much less and they might even have time to spare to fill in some extra work, should they want to.

RELIEF

Schoolwork at any age can be stressful and time-consuming and, much of the time, your child will feel there is literally anything else they would rather be doing (even chores). However, encouraging them to create a consistent routine of revision and further learning will make their journey through school that much more comfortable and still, hopefully, leave time for them to hang out with their friends, also.

You want your child to get through school as smoothly as possible, and while you cannot sit by them every step of the way and find all the answers for them, you can help them find solutions for increasing their knowledge and understanding. They might be reluctant now, but when graduation and later college come around, they will thank you.

Adjusting to parenthood can be a tough task, but the challenge becomes even more difficult when you introduce a new addition to the mix. Going from one child to two brings a series of changes, and it’s important for you as a parent to adapt to having two kids as well as being there to help your first-born get used to life as a big brother or sister. If you have a child and you’re thinking about adding to your brood, or you’re already expecting, hopefully, you’ll find this guide useful.

Choosing the right time

If you have one child and you’d love to have more children in the future, it can be tricky to find the perfect time to expand your family. Do you want a small gap between the kids or can you not even contemplate trying to survive those sleepless nights again now that you have a toddler settled into a routine? There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to choosing the right time to start trying for another baby, but there may be factors you’d like to consider. If you were unable to conceive naturally the first time around, you might have difficulties this time too, and it may take a long time to get pregnant. Even if you didn’t have any issues the first time, there’s nothing to say that everything will be straightforward this time. We tend to take our ability to conceive for granted and assume that it will just happen. The reality is that every couple is different. If you’ve had tests like semen analysis and fertility treatment in the past, it’s wise to set up a meeting with your doctor and discuss the options if you decide that you’d like to try for another baby. If you’ve not had treatment before, but you’ve been trying for a while without any success, it’s worth seeking expert advice. In your head, you may have it all planned out, but unfortunately, things don’t always pan out how you’d like them to.

Telling your child

If you’re celebrating happy news and you’re expecting again, one of the most exciting parts of pregnancy is telling the people you love. If you have a child already, you may be approaching revealing this news with a mixture of emotions. Of course, it’s an exciting time, but you may also be apprehensive or anxious about the reaction. If your child is still very young, they may struggle to understand, but an older child could display a range of emotions. They may be thrilled that they’re going to be a big brother or sister, but they might also be worried about what this will mean in terms of having to share their parents. If you are looking forward to telling your child, it’s a good idea to wait until you’ve had scans and made sure that everything is fine and the baby is healthy and developing well. It may also be a good idea to take your child along to any scans you have later in the pregnancy so that they feel like they are part of the journey.

Prepping for life as a father of two

You may think that life is hectic enough with one child, but wait until another little person joins the fold. Life with one child is very different to life with two, so it’s best to be prepared for long days and nights and to try and get ready as best you can. Tick off practical jobs like getting the nursery sorted and arranging childcare at short notice if your partner goes into labor. Have your parents or best friends on standby so that they can take care of your child while you’re in hospital. Pack a bag, make sure you’ve got all the essentials you need and think about changes you need to make to cope better once your new baby arrives. Do you need more space at home? Is your car too small for two kids and all the stuff they have? Do you need to speak to your boss about flexible working options? Whatever tasks you have on your list, try and tick them off before you approach those final few weeks to make sure you’re ready and alleviate any additional stress.

Helping your child adjust to life as the big sibling

When you’ve had your parents all to yourself for your whole life, it must be very strange to suddenly see a new baby stealing the limelight. When you bring your new baby home, go out of your way to make a fuss of your older child and let them get involved with helping out. Encourage them to hold the baby while you supervise and try and build that bond from the early days. As a father, you’ll probably find that you have to take on a more influential role if your partner is feeding and tending to the baby. Be there for your first-born, spend time together, have fun and make sure they know that they’re as valuable now as they were before that little bundle of joy arrived. Ask friends and family members to make a fuss of both children when they come and visit for the first time and make the older child feel special. You could buy a small gift from the baby such as a teddy bear, a toy car or even a personalized big brother or big sister t-shirt they can show off with pride.

Are you thinking of adding to your family or are you counting down the days until baby number two arrives? Adjusting to being a parent of two children can be tough, but it can also be an incredibly exciting and rewarding challenge. It’s wise to plan ahead and focus on how you’re going to adapt to life with a new child, as well as how your first-born is going to cope with a new brother or sister. Think carefully about when you want to try and add to the family, prepare for the new arrival as best you can by ticking off practical jobs and getting your home ready and make sure your older child is involved in the journey with you.

Growing up you probably only thought about bar soap when it came to taking your daily shower or bath. You see bar soap is known mostly for its purpose to cleanse your body of the dirt and sweat accumulated throughout your day to day living. While bar soap is the perfect way to clean your body in the shower or tub, there are other purposes for bar soap and I am sharing those ideas with you today.

Keep Paint Projects Clean

Rub a little bit of bar soap around the edges of surfaces that you’re about to paint. The bar soap will make sure any overrun of paint will be easily cleaned up when you’re finished painting.

Keep Your Nails Clean

Having long nails can be a chore, but with a little bar soap applied over your nails before going out to garden or do some dirty work will help keep the dirt from accumulating as much over your nails.

Make Liquid Soap

There are quite a few online recipe ideas for making liquid soap out of bar soap, so look them up and make your own liquid soap if bar soap isn’t your thing.

Get Zippers Moving

All too often we end up with a stiff zipper on our coat or jeans, bar soap rubbed across any zipper will help free it up and move freely.

Coat Campfire Pans

Cooking over an open flame will ultimately lead to soot all over your pans. Use bar soap around the bottom of your pans before cooking over a fire, it will make the soot easier to clean off afterward.

Rid Home of Pests

Put a small cube of bar soap in your dresser and closets to ward off moths. You may also mix some bar soap with water in a spray bottle to use on plants so bugs don’t attack them.

Use for Shaving

Lather up that bar soap and apply to your body before shaving, use bar soap instead of shaving cream to get a clean shave in next time you need to shave your legs or face.

DIY Body Scrub

Peel down bar soap into chunks and mix with salt to create your own body scrub mixture. This will help to exfoliate your skin better than bar soap alone.

There comes a time in each child’s life when they start to want to buy their own things themselves. This might be through the money they have earnt in a part-time job or from their pocket money. You should use this time to teach your children about money. They need to know when to spend and when to save and the importance of using money smartly. With that in mind, here is what you should teach your kids about money.

Teach Them About Spending

You should also teach your children about spending. They need to understand that money is a limited resource and that once it is gone, it is gone. This can be taught having a money pouch on a day out with your child, and as you buy things throughout the day, this will steadily run out of money. At the end of the day, when all the money is gone they can see that there is no more money even if they want to buy more things. Obviously, this is simplified for a very young child and won’t be appropriate for teenagers.

Children need to learn that eventually, they will need to be able to manage their own finances. A good way of teaching this is through setting a set allowance or pocket money and sticking to that figure. If they spend it all, then it is all gone. They need to learn the consequences of their actions and understand that the bank of Mom and Dad won’t always be there to catch them. If they don’t have money, then they might need to do things like take out a small loan if they desperately need money and you don’t necessarily want this to be the case when they grow up.

Teach Them About Saving

You should teach your children the value of saving money as early as possible. The sooner they understand the benefits of saving money for later, the better it will serve them through their lives. This will help them understand that they need to save money in order to purchase expensive items and that it is worth having some money set aside for times when they want it. A good example of this is if your child wants an expensive video games console, then encouraging them to save their pocket money and once they reach a certain amount you will also make a contribution will help them see the value in saving. Another example would be encouraging them to have a savings fund for when they go holiday so that they can enjoy more ice cream, activities and other treats. These are great ways to show your children how important saving can be and the rewards of doing so.

When they get older, this will also apply to understanding how savings accounts work. If they understand that interest means that their money will steadily grow without them needing to touch it and that the more they save, the more money they will have, then they are more likely to have good saving habits in the future. This will help them to save money for a house, education or anything else that they want to save money for. Teaching them that the sooner they start saving, the better is also worth doing.

New year can be a real anticlimax at times. So many of us put so much focus on making changes that often we can expect too many things of ourselves and we end up failing at the first hurdle. However, it can also be an ideal time to make some of the changes in regards to your foundation, which can then be built upon as the year goes on. We all have big aspirations. Perhaps to run a marathon. Go on holiday somewhere faraway or exoctic, or even just some focus on out self-care and financial goals. So how can you really use this time of year to give yourself a boost? I wanted to share with you four areas that you can do it. I hope it provides you with the inspiration to take on those new year’s resolutions and goals after all.

Working on your current financial situation

Your finances could be a big problem for you right now, and this could be what is hindering you moving forward to take on some of the other aspects of your life. It can be quite daunting to approach your financial situation and make some changes, especially after the Christmas season. But taking control of things like debt where websites like repair.credit can offer advice, or even reduce your outgoings so you can free up some income to save for other things can really be inspiring to then give you the right foundation to take other parts of your life.

Taking some time to work on your mindset

Your mind is such a powerful tool, and so it can be the difference between taking action and not doing. So it is always worth taking some time for some care with yourself and working on your current mindset situation. Whether you are genuinely a positive person, or find yourself feeling like negative thoughts are creeping in, being proactive with your thought process and taking time for behaviours like gratitude and even meditation and exercise, can help you to improve your mind and general well being.

Embracing a lifestyle change

Maybe you set yourself a goal of a lifestyle change. Perhaps it was to take part in veganuary or cut out dairy or gluten from your diet. Maybe you made a promise to yourself to be more active. It can be hard when these goals can be big changes, so you may want to start off with smaller bite sized chunks to help you get back on track. This can help you stay motivated as you start to achieve things with a lore long term goal in mind.

Taking action with your career or future plans

Finally, now is the time it get some plans in place for the other changes you wanted to make, It might have been to do with your career, perhaps getting on the property ladder, or evn just ticking some of those things off your bucket list. Having a plan put in place helps you to make these goals a lot more real.

I hope that these four areas help give you a boost for your year ahead.

If you have children, saving money can seem impossible. How are you supposed to save cash when you have extra mouths to feed and extra demands to meet? Well, while it may be difficult, it can be done. Read on to discover some great tips on saving money as a family.

Focus on paying off your debts – Paying off debts can be a challenge when you have children. It takes the back seat because you have so many other expenses to tackle. However, being in debt results in further expenses because you’re going to be paying interest. So, the best thing to do is put a plan together to pay off your debts. Use a debt consolidation calculator to determine whether this would be the best solution. Otherwise, put together a structured plan so you can work out how much you can afford to comfortably put towards your debts every month.

Take advantage of cheap family travel – Make sure you explore your travel options carefully. If you use public transport a lot, buying a railcard may be a wise idea. You could save 1/3 off family train travel by investing in a railcard.

Shop better – Most families will agree that a large chunk of their monthly spending goes on groceries. So, now is the perfect time to learn how to shop more effectively. Take advantage of the value ranges that are offered by supermarkets. Also, buy in bulk and make a shopping list before you go to the supermarket. A few small changes can go a very long way when trying to save money.

Make the most of vouchers and coupons – Nowadays, there seems to be a voucher and coupon for everything, so make the most of them. You can also use special childcare vouchers to save money in terms of tax. Make sure you explore all of your options carefully. A lot of parents are missing out on savings without even realising it.

Opt for free family fun – There are plenty of ways for you and your family to have fun without spending money. If you do a quick browse on the Internet, you will see that there are many free attractions, or venues where children go free, which will make your days out a lot more cost effective.

Make sure you’re not paying too much for council tax – There are many homes that are in the wrong council tax In fact, this has been the way since 1993. This means you could be paying way too much money for your home’s valuations. Not only this, you may also be owned a significant amount of money too, and so this is definitely something that is worth exploring future.

So there you have it: some of the best ways to save money if you have children. While it can be incredibly difficult, it is not impossible. Follow the advice that has been mentioned above, and you will soon notice that your money starts to build-up.

As a parent, we are always working at teaching our children how to be the best versions of themselves. From being thoughtful, listening when people talk, being respectful, and of course learning responsibility. Being responsible is learning to take care of their belongings, get their homework done and on time, learning to take care of themselves and others, and much more. Below are some strategies to teach your child responsibility.

When your child learns about responsibility you also want them to have a positive attitude as they complete the task at hand. You don’t want them to do the task because they have to, you want them to be proud they are doing it and to the best of their ability. Raising helpful, strong, responsible kids is our goals as parents. These tips below can help you nurture and teach your child to be responsible.

5 Tips for Teaching Your Child Responsibility

Be A Role Model

First and foremost you want to act the way you want your child to act. Parents have so many responsibilities that we can demonstrate each day how to handle them. Be on time, finish tasks doing the best you can do, and if you promise or agree to help out with something, follow through.

Start Teaching At A Young Age

If your child is still young, that is the best time to teach. Teach them to pick up their toys, put the dishes up when they are finished eating, and the list goes on. As they get older, they will be engrained with those simple responsibilities you had them do when they are young. Let them help make a sandwich at lunch, and help fold laundry. It may take longer and not be done perfectly, but allowing your child to help when they ask to, will slowly teach them simple responsibilities for later in life.

Expectations

This is something we need to work on as parents. We have to expect that if your 3-year old helps fold laundry or makes their bed it won’t be perfect. But you still allow them to help, because that is how they will learn. You have to look at your child’s age and then base what they can do and to what standard.

Demonstrate Tasks

Demonstrate how to do small tasks so your child can begin to learn. If your child has a laundry basket in their room, teach them that is where they toss dirty clothes. Or that if they want a snack, create a bin that has approved snacks that they can grab and eat by themselves if you say they can. A simple task like that will teach them how to be responsible for themselves, respect rules of the household, and grow.

Praise

Kids love to help out, and in that make sure to offer positive praise when they do. Tell them you are proud of them, thank them for helping take the trash out or dust. Children will learn that when they help it makes mom and dad proud and they will work hard to keep doing this for you.

Routine

Kids need and love structure and routines. You can slowly begin to tell your son to pick up their room each night or put the laundry in the basket. It will then become a routine. Just like with older kids, that when they get home they have to sit down and work on homework, instead of waiting till later at night. Over time it will become a routine to them, instead of winging it when they want.

With Christmas having just been, it is difficult to say how much money is left in your bank account, if any. Logging into your online banking in this period always gives you the chills, but with the house conversion you always dreamt of being a priority, you have no option but to face those scary digits.

Statistics show that the average American spends $700 during Christmas on holiday gifts alone. This means, combined, the American population spends more than $465 billion during the festive season. It is no wonder, as a result, that January and February are cold and harsh months for families in the country; there simply is little money left after all this spending. With the below tips, you will hopefully be able to afford the house conversion you have been dreaming of for a while.

Put it on the credit card

Preapproved credit cards could help you finally afford converting your house into your dream pad. If you are unsure of what credit card companies out there would entitle you to, with these type of credit cards you could request a free credit report without this ruining your credit rating. That is why they are called preapproved. They are a great tool to know what kind of offering there is in the market and the way it works is that credit card companies will send different offers for you to choose from and see which form of credit you could be eligible for.

Sell your stuff on Ebay

They say that a little bit goes a long way and this is exactly what could happen if you decided to sell some of your belongings on Ebay. Whilst you might have never thought you would end up auctioning your clutter, many people resort to selling on ebay to afford a project they haven’t got enough funds for. The platform charges a percentage for every item you manage to sell, but this is still a great way to earn some easy cash from the comfort of your living room.

Organise a raffle

If you have a large network, organising a raffle is a way of asking people for money without begging for it. You could invest some of your own money in coming up with a great prize a lucky winner could bag. Once you have decided on the goods to offer the winning ticket, invite your family and friends over and sell each ticket for a set price. The more invitees you manage to gather, the bigger will be your returns. A great way of getting everyone together, raffles are also excellent solutions to the cash-strapped. You just have to make sure your winning prize is attractive enough.

The above steps could ensure you can finally afford your dreamed conversion. These might not bring you all the money in one go, but if you stay focused and set realistic targets, you will get there!

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